1. Introduction
The following section includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any such information is prior art, or relevant, to the presently claimed inventions, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
2. Background
Edible flowers have been used in the culinary arts for flavor and garnish for hundreds of years. Early reports indicate that the Romans used flowers in cooking, as did the Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Indian cultures. In fact, the first mention of people consuming flowers dates back at least as far as 140 BCE.
Candied fruits have typically been being made the same way since the at least the 14th century. In that process, barely ripe fruit is placed in increasingly stronger solutions of heated sugar syrup, with the syrup gradually replacing the water content of the fruit. The process can take from several days to several months, depending upon the type and size of fruit.
Candied or crystallized flowers have also been know for hundreds of years, and are generally prepared using a procedure that involves dipping or coating a flower with beaten egg white, followed by dipping and rolling the flower in sugar, and then sprinkling the upper surface of the flower with sugar as well. That process frequently results in a clumpy, uneven, and heavily coated flower having most its natural color and beauty obscured. Also, because that technique uses raw egg whites, problems such as spoilage, contamination with undesired microorganisms (e.g., Salmonella species), or allergic reactions, can result.
To address some of these problems, one improvement has been to use pasteurized powdered egg whites instead of fresh egg whites. Another improvement involves the sprinkling of sugar instead of dipping. Indeed, today these methods are how most crystallized flowers and/or edible produce are made.
These techniques, while improvements over the way plant material was candied or crystallized for centuries, still have inherent problems. Once such problem is that the plant material may dry non-uniformly, resulting in a product that is misshapen, deformed, or off-color when compared to the original, fresh counterpart. Another problem is that once dry, these products tend to be fragile and can also rapidly spoil should any of the plant surfaces remain uncoated, and even when coated, such products can readily absorb moisture, leading to their decay. Therefore there remains an unfulfilled need for processes and components that eliminate the difficulties and guesswork associated with making non-perishable plant-derived candied food items that resemble their fresh counterparts.
3. Definitions
Before describing the instant invention in detail, several terms used in the context of the present invention will be defined. In addition to these terms, others are defined elsewhere in the specification, as necessary. Unless otherwise expressly defined herein, terms of art used in this specification will have their art-recognized meanings.
An “aqueous solution” refers to a water-based solution capable of dissolving or dispersing one or more other substances, or solutes (i.e., the substance(s) dissolved in the solvent). A “solution” is a homogeneous mixture of at least one substance in a liquid. In the context of this invention, “aqueous solvents” can also include other liquids, including organic liquids, such as alcohols and/or oils.
A “binding agent” refers to an ingredient or substance, or mixture of ingredient or substances (i.e., a “composition”), which binds ingredients together. Examples include substances such as proteins. In the context of the invention, a particularly preferred protein is egg white protein, or albumen or ovalbumin.
An “edible” item refers to a product or composition in any physical form that is intended to be consumed by a human or other animal in whole or part via the oral cavity. Therefore, each ingredient or additive used in food preparation, whether naturally occurring as a product of nature or synthetically produced, or that becomes a part of or is used to treat an edible composition, is to be regarded as being edible. A “non-edible” item refers to a product or composition in any physical form that is not intended to be consumed by a human or other animal in whole or part via the oral cavity.
The term “egg white” refers to any egg white composition suitable for use as a binding agent in a preservative composition in accordance with the invention. In general, egg whites are the nutritive, protective gelatinous mixture surrounding the egg yolk, and are comprised primarily of albumen dissolved in water. Egg whites, including egg white protein, and other proteinaceous binding agents, may be derived from any suitable source. In the case of egg whites, they are typically, although not necessarily, harvested from poultry (frequently, chicken) eggs.
The term “food item” refers to any product or composition known to have or disclosed as having a nutritional effect. Items historically regarded as food include various meats (e.g., beef, pork, poultry, fish, etc.), dairy products (e.g., milk, cheese, eggs), fruits, vegetables, cereals, breads, etc.
A “fresh” food item is one that is not preserved, for example, by canning, dehydration, freezing, or smoking.
A “patentable” composition, process, machine, or article of manufacture according to the invention means that the subject matter at issue satisfies all statutory requirements for patentability at the time the analysis is performed. For example, with regard to novelty, non-obviousness, or the like, if later investigation reveals that one or more claims encompass one or more embodiments that would negate novelty, non-obviousness, etc., the claim(s), being limited by definition to “patentable” embodiments, specifically excludes the unpatentable embodiment(s). Also, the claims appended hereto are to be interpreted both to provide the broadest reasonable scope, as well as to preserve their validity. Furthermore, if one or more of the statutory requirements for patentability are amended or if the standards change for assessing whether a particular statutory requirement for patentability is satisfied from the time this application is filed or issues as a patent to a time the validity of one or more of the appended claims is questioned, the claims are to be interpreted in a way that (1) preserves their validity and (2) provides the broadest reasonable interpretation under the circumstances.
The term “plant-derived” means that the item is derived, or comes from, from a plant, and thus refers to such things as flowers (with or without stems), flower petals, leaves, fruits, stems, stalks, etc.
A “sugar” refers to a class of carbohydrates soluble in water and dilute alcohol that are used as sweeteners and preservatives. In dry form, they are frequently crystalline. Disaccharides include sucrose, lactose, and maltose. Monosaccharides include glucose, fructose, and inositol. Other representative sugars include dextran, fruitose, invert sugar, lactitol, lactose, maltitol, maltodextrin, maltose, mannitol, sorbitol, sucrose, trehalose, isomalt, xylitol, polydextrose, and combinations thereof. Confectioner's sugar refers to a composition comprising 95-97% sucrose ground together with cornstarch to a fine powder. “Granulated” or “table” sugar refers to sucrose granulated into a fine white powder. Suitable sugars also include natural and raw sugars, including sugars that are brown or white when refined into crystalline form. Sugars may also be used in liquid form; for example, molasses may be employed in the practice of the methods of this invention, as may other sugar-containing solutions produced naturally or by a suitable refining process.
In a “suspension” solid particles are dispersed in a liquid. The term “colloidal” refers to a state of subdivision, which, in the context of solutions, means that molecules or particles dispersed in the liquid have at least in one direction a dimension roughly between 1 nm and 1 μm. It is not necessary for all three dimensions to be in the colloidal range. A “colloidal dispersion” is a system in which particles of colloidal size of any nature (e.g. solid, liquid or gas) are dispersed in a continuous phase of a different composition (or state). In an “emulsion” liquid droplets and/or liquid crystals are dispersed in a liquid. An emulsion may be denoted by the symbol “O/W” if the continuous phase (i.e., is an aqueous solution) and by “W/O” if the continuous phase is an organic liquid.